U.N. panel to take up Palestine bid

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday advanced the Palestinian statehood bid, marking the first step in the consideration process for the controversial request.

The 15-member Security Council convened very briefly Wednesday morning, and immediately forwarded Palestine’s request for statehood and full membership to the U.N. to its committee on new admissions. The committee will meet to discuss the bid on Friday morning.

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Following the unanimous approval, Riyad Mansour, the permanent Palestinian observer at the United Nations, told reporters he hoped the Security Council would quickly take “positive action” on Palestine’s application.

“The process is moving forward step by step,” Mansour said. “And we hope that the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility and to approve our application and to send a recommendation to the General Assembly for the admission of Palestine to the United Nations.”

Typically the review period lasts 35 days at most, but the limit could be waived and the deliberation process could last weeks longer in the Palestinian case.

Ron Prosor, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, said a viable Palestinian state can only be achieved through direct talks without preconditions.

“Let’s go back without shortcuts to direct negotiations,” he told reporters. “That’s the only way one can move forward to a substantial peace.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas submitted the request last Friday just before his address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The United States has vowed repeatedly to veto the bid, saying a Palestinian state must result from direct talks with Israel.

President Barack Obama told a meeting of the U.N. General Council on Sept. 21 that peace “will not come through statements and resolutions” as he argued against the proposed Palestinian statehood bid.

“I am convinced that there is no shortcut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N. — if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now,” Obama said. “Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians who must live side by side. Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians — not us — who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and security; on refugees and Jerusalem.”

A new Jerusalem Post poll showed that Obama’s speech resonated with Israeli Jews, with 54 percent calling his policies more pro-Israel, compared with the 19 percent who said the administration favored Palestinians. That marked a major surge from a previous poll taken in May that found just 12 percent considered the administration’s policies more pro-Israel.

Israel announced on Tuesday it had approved the construction of 1,100 new housing units in the east Jerusalem settlement of Gilo. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the project “counterproductive” to resuming direct negotiations. Abbas has said he will not return to negotiations until all settlement construction is halted by Israel.